Professor Antonia Schleicher, who joined the Department of African Languages and Literature in 1989 and who is a specialist in African linguistics and language pedagogy, is this year's recipient of the A. Ronald Walton Award.
The award is bestowed by the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) for Schleicher's distinguished service to the profession.
In addition, Schleicher is one of the recipients of the Chancellor's UW-Madison Distinguished Teaching Awards.
Schleicher has helped to make a name for UW-Madison in the field of African Languages, as well as being a strong promoter for the less commonly taught languages at the national level.
In 1999, through her initiative and leadership, UW-Madison became the home of the National African Language Research Center and, in 2008, the site of the only federally funded flagship program in Yoruba.
Along with having served as president of both the African Language Teachers Association and NCOLCTL, she has provided a home here at UW-Madison for the secretariats of both organizations. Moreover, she has recently been elected to serve a three year term on the Board of Directors of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the organization in the forefront of foreign language education in the United States.